Turkish academics detained and threatened for opposing military action

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In News, Brendan O'Malley reports on a worrying development for academic freedom in Turkey, where 18 lecturers were detained in dawn raids on Friday for signing a petition criticising military operations against Kurdish militants in the South-East of the country and 130 others face criminal charges, amid accusations from the Turkish president that the academics were engaging in “terrorist propaganda”.
Staying with Turkey but on a different note, the lead Commentary this week by Bekir S Gur proposes that the ‘New Flagship University’ outlined in a new book could provide a more balanced model for leading national universities than the quest to establish ‘World-Class Universities’ that perform well in global rankings. Also concerned about the obsession with international rankings, Francisco Marmolejo argues that they do have value but alternative benchmarking processes are needed.
David Newman slates the Israeli government for making political appointments to key jobs in the Council for Higher Education, thus endangering the country’s strong research performance. Mark Ashwill looks at what is driving growing numbers of Vietnamese to study in America, while Tapas R Dash reports on the challenges Cambodia faces in improving higher education quality and how internationalisation can help. Damtew Teferra contends that Africa’s flagship universities need greater recognition for their contributions to development.
And in World Blog, Robin Matross Helms proposes engaging academics in internationalisation early in their careers so that global perspectives become embedded in their teaching and research.
In Features, Nicola Jenvey unpacks a report from Science Europe that contends that Asia, unlike Europe, is increasingly recognising the role of the arts and humanities in innovation. And Ahmed Mohamoud Elmi takes us to the University of Hargeisa in Somaliland, where the education minister has just graduated with a masters in international relations and diplomacy. Read more...